The Manhattan Project

This device pours a Manhattan cocktail. It is designed to resemble a chemistry experiment, with a stainless tube frame and discrete modules that clamp to the frame for each ingredient. A core mechanism, comprising a worm-driven cam shaft, pulls on cables that run to each of the four modules: 1 Bourbon, 2 Vermouth, 3 Bitters, and 4 Pour. A partial gear on the cam shaft activates the stirring arm in between dispensing the ingredients and the pour step.

The challenge of this piece was to create a mechanism to mechanically measure the ingredients in a way that can be adjusted for greater or lesser pours. Each of the two large bottles has a counterweighted trigger that locks the bottle open (pouring) until the weight of the cup below overcomes the counterweight. The cup then falls and the bottle is stoppered. I built this machine at Autodesk's Pier 9 facility as part of an Artist Residency there in 2014. You can see how I built it here.